“There is only one hope of rejecting the tyrannical ambition of civilization to conquer every place on earth. This hope is the organization of the most sensitive people to the values of the spirit, to fight for the free continuity of wild nature “
Robert Bob Marshall

sabato 21 aprile 2018

What is the Deep ecology

"Deep ecology is radically since the traditional linking a current of ancient philosophical and religious minorities in Western Europe, North America and East and also has strong ties with many philosophical and religious positions of native peoples (including Indians 'America). In a sense it may be regarded as the wisdom which preserves the memory of what men once knew "(Devall & Sessions, 1989).

The thought of deep ecology focuses, more than any other, the intrinsic value of nature and the total value of all things because "the imprecision on the 'origin' of deep ecology is small compared to summary judgments, disparaging , ironic that you read very often in the media consumer "(Salio, 1994). The initiator of this clear vision of reality is the natural and vital Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess in the course of the seventies by a specific article and revolutionary distinguished categorically ecology in shallow (Shallow ecology) and deep (deep ecology). Deep ecology, as is implicit in its very literal definition, goes beyond the superficial analysis of the tank and its environmental problems of the classical ecological science, showing, on the contrary, only a comprehensive, encompassing the world. "It is the idea that we can not make any clear ontological separation in the field of existence: that there is no bifurcation in reality between the human and nonhuman realms .... when we perceive the borders, our deep ecological awareness is less "(Fox, 1983 in Devall & Sessions, 1989). However, the essence of deep ecology is well prior to the ideas of Arne Naess as already in the remote periods of history (Indian culture, animist, etc..) There was evidence of mental attitudes and practical unifiers where each element had a value in itself and there was universal . "I am a rock, I saw him live and die, I felt happiness, sorrows and pains, I live the life of the rock. They are part of Mother Earth, I feel his heart beating on my own, I feel his pain, his happiness: I live the life of the rock. They are a part of the Great Mystery, I heard her mourning, I hear his wisdom, I saw his sister I creatures: animals, birds, water and winds whispering, trees and everything in earth and everything in the universe "(Hopi Prayer).

"While the ecology of surface can be considered mainly inspired by an ethic of instrumental value, even if understood in a 'reformist' (conservation and preservation) and not of mere exploitation, deep ecology supports the thesis of the intrinsic value of objects natural "(Salio, 1989). Excellent also the definition of the term made by Capra (1997): "The surface ecology is anthropocentric, that is human-centered. It considers human beings above or outside of nature, as the source of all values, and assigns a value to nature only instrumental, or 'use'. Deep ecology does not separate humans - or anything else - from the wild. It does not see the world as a series of separate objects, but as a network of phenomena that are fundamentally interconnected and interdependent. Deep ecology recognizes the intrinsic value of all living beings and sees human beings as simply a particular thread in the fabric of life. " Naess says that "the essence of deep ecology is to ask more radical questions", that is, in asking questions that challenge the certainties "surface" of our world view, a conception that sees the human protagonist of the Earth, dominating of all creatures. Deep ecology, crosses this paradigm shifting and flows in the impersonal man from mid-engined single element of the "web of life and that we are" (Capra, 1997). Deep ecology reconditions the style of human life, raises questions about the newspaper every attitude and try to root in the mind a new comprehensive and universal ethics. In other words, a deep ecologist will have a positive attitude in any field of social relations and "natural" because it universalized a principle from the outset is set to a monistic view, radical and equal. Again writes Capra (1997): "The power of abstract thought has led us to consider the natural environment - the web of life - as if it consisted of separate parts, that various interest groups can exploit. In addition, we extended this fragmented view of human society, dividing it into different nations, races, political and religious groups. The belief that all these parts - in ourselves, in our environment and our society - they are really separate us from nature and alienated from his neighbors, and there has therefore devalued. To regain our full human nature, we must regain the experience of connecting with the entire web of life. This reconnect, religion in Latin, is the true essence of the spiritual foundation of deep ecology. "

Continues Capra (1997): "For deep ecology, the global issue of values is decisive, is, in fact, the central feature that defines .......It 'a worldview that recognizes the intrinsic value of non human life forms. All living things are members of ecological communities bound together in a network of interdependence. When this deep ecological design becomes part of our everyday awareness, emerges a radically new system of ethics.

Today the need for such a deep ecological ethics is urgently needed, especially in science, since much of what scientists do not need to encourage them to preserve life, but to destroy it ......

In the context of deep ecology, the idea that values are inherent in everything that is living part of nature, has its basis in experience profound ecological, or spiritual, that Nature and I are one. This expansion to the total ego identification with nature is the foundation for deep ecology ....

It follows that the relationship between an ecological perception of the world and a corresponding behavior is not a logical but psychological. From the fact that we are part and parcel of the fabric of life, the logic leads us to the rules that tell us how we should live. However, if we have the deep ecological awareness, or the experience of being part of the fabric of life, then we want (and we) be inclined to have respect for all that is living part of nature. In fact, we can not help but react in this way. "

The basic principles of deep ecology can be summarized as follows (from Devall & Sessions, 1989):

1. The welfare and prosperity of human life and human life on Earth have value in themselves (in other words, have an intrinsic value or inherent). These values are independent of the usefulness of the nonhuman world for human beings can have.

2. The richness and diversity of life forms contribute to the realization of these values and are also values in themselves.

3. The men have no right to impoverish the richness and diversity except to satisfy vital needs that they should not.

4. The flourishing of human life and cultures is compatible with a substantial decrease in human population: the prosperity of nonhuman life requires such a decrease.

5. The current human interference in the non human world is excessive, and the situation is getting worse gradually.

6. Consequently, the collective decisions have to be changed. These choices affect the ideological structures, technological and economic fundamentals. The state of affairs that will result will be radically different from today.

7. The ideological change is mainly in appreciation of the quality of life as intrinsic value rather than adhering to a standard of living even higher. It should be clear about the difference between what is and what great quality it is quantitatively.

8. Anyone who shares the above points is required, directly or indirectly, groped to implement the necessary changes.

The schematic above-listed eight points put in evidence such as deep ecology, is one of the few concepts that have relocated to the right man in harmony with nature (in line with a new ethic of the earth). Here's a simple parallel between the principles of the dominant culture and the "deep" Deep Ecology (Devall & Sessions by, 1989):

Dominant culture: DC

Deep Ecology: DE

DC: Domain nature

DE: Harmony with nature

DC: The natural environment is a resource for humans

DE: All nature has intrinsic value

DC: Economic Growth / material for the increase in human population

DE: Needs simple materials

DC: Confidence in the abundance of resources

DE: Limited resources of the Earth

DC: Progress and high-tech solutions

DE: Appropriate technology: science is not dominating

DC: Consumerism

DE: Sobriety / recycling

DC: Community central / national

DE: Tradition minority / bioregion

Livingston (in Devall & Sessions, 1989) correctly states that the arguments relating to the protection of nature have always been set to direct and indirect human interests, so that without a complete change of awareness and depth of spirit, in truth you can not connect with the natural world and therefore "there is no hope of reversing the situation and to protect forests and wildlife from human destruction."

For example, the establishment of a protected area is a classic action ecology surface, again, as mentioned in key anthropocentric. It is not they never questioned the "certainty" of society and of modern science, but only criticize the negative aspects of the apparent surface without ever going to the heart of the matter. It 'just a protective intervention dutifully, mind you, but that vision must be complemented by "deep" of the natural world where man is an undistinguished in a whole and where every attitude is always in harmony with each other spontaneously .

Let us pause for a moment to reflect. Let's change our lives. We enter the deep spirituality of nature and its forces within digress, without thinking about a goal or to one of our particular interest. Write Olivetti & Lombardo (1991) "One step after another. The important thing is not to anticipate, do not think 'how far it is to get'. Walking inside their shoes, without regard to time out. I know those who have learned to do it, or more generally in the mountains in the wild ..... Walking is, first, go in search of lost time .... The time is lost because this is not fully longer exists in our lives, even in moments of leisure and disengagement. We live in a dimension where the past is erased ..... but this is dead, replaced by a constant anticipation of what we do in ten minutes, one hour, two days. A limit continuously moved forward. "

Let us then try to rejoin nature, we try to reach the essence of things in their deep, even deeper than ourselves, and finally the desire closed external sensations. "In the long run, to participate with joy and with all my heart the deep ecology movement, we must take life very seriously. People who maintain a low standard of living and cultivating an intense, rich, inner life, can, better than others, to have a deep ecological vision and act accordingly. I sit down, breath deeply and feel exactly where I am "(Arne Naess).

Writes From Home (1996): "The system's deep ecology thinking, our species is not very favorable. Living things and ecosystems, like all elements of the cosmos, have a value in itself. All Nature has intrinsic value and unit, as it has a value in itself every component, formed in a process of billions of years. The human species is one of these components, one of the branches of the tree of life ........ The natural world is not 'heritage, but it is much more: it is billions of years before our species. If you really want to talk about membership, is the humanity which belongs to Nature and not vice versa ........ In this framework the Western idea of human-biblical position is more or less like a curious delusions of grandeur.

While the ecology of the Earth surface must be respected because it is all present and future generations, deep in the ecology of the human species is not the custodian or owner of anything. "

However, as previously mentioned, the ecology of surface is also important, especially for interventions that need to have immediate feedback in the field of conservation. Taking into account also that to get an insight of ecology is necessary to initiate a radical change in his thinking, it is possible that the acquisitions are a mental ecology of the surface of the milestones towards the deep. Hoping that the ecology of surface is not yet another spectacle of Western "civilization"!

b) new man's role in the natural system: a conqueror of the land to the person who experiences a full contact with nature;

c) cultivate modesty and humility, and finally,

d) understand the life cycle of the mountains, rivers, fish, bears ........

How deep ecologist ........ Muir investigated the nature and not limited to admire. He began to realize that the grasshoppers or the pines and stones were not to be understood as separate entities because they were closely related "(Devall & Sessions, 1989).

It should be remembered that an 'idea even if it is sustained by a minority may in time produce substantial positive effects. He writes Kaczynskj (1997): "Before the final fight the revolutionaries should not expect to have a majority on their side. The story is made up of active and determined minority, not the majority, which seldom has a clear and precise idea of what they really want. In the time it takes to get to the final effort toward the revolution, the task of revolutionaries is to be a small group of people deeply involved rather than trying to earn favor with the masses. As for the majority, it will be enough to make it aware of the new ideology and remind him frequently .... ".

"What matters is not only the idea, but the ability to believe in it" (Ezra Pound).